Garlic and Butter Broiled Salmon Heads

As I have mentioned before, I have a penchant for buying whole fish. Since buying a whole salmon is out of the question, I prefer cooking its head. Salmon steaks are expensive, and not as fatty and succulent as the meat from the collar and cheeks. Besides, at $1.99/lb, how can I resist a very good dinner for this cheap?

In Filipino cooking, heads of big fish like Maya-Maya (Red Snapper), is usually cooked with tamarind broth – Sinigang. Since my husband is not a fan of sour broth, I decided to broil it.

Even if this is the first time I’m using the broiler under my conventional oven.

Inspired by Inihaw na Panga ng Tuna, (Grilled Tuna Jaw), I mustered the courage to learn how to use the broiler.

Ingredients:

One Salmon Head (serves 2-3 people, if served with rice; can substitute any other available fish at your fishmonger)

Special Equipment:

Broiler on your conventional oven or Turbo Broiler. The procedure is pretty much the same if you choose to broil it in the Turbo.

Food Chopper/Cuisinart, optional. If you don’t have one, chop garlic by hand and cream the butter with finely chopped garlic.

Procedure:

Fish heads are usually just chopped off, so make sure to rinse again under cool water. Rinsing it in hot water will pre-cook it. Make sure to remove all gills. Yes, that thing where my finger is!

Also remove all the remaining innards, like these raw liver- like spots.

Spot the difference: Before and after cleaning.

Set fish aside. Peel garlic, and chop in your food processor first. Once it is halfway to a fine chop, stop and add the room-temperature butter.

Keep chopping until you have a nice fine paste of butter and garlic goodness. If you want to add other herbs and spices, go ahead and do so at this point. (yay!) Notice, that I didn’t put salt – and I don’t think it needs it since I used regular butter. If you are using unsalted butter, go ahead and salt it.

Dot the fish with butter and garlic mixture liberally on both sides. I’d say spread, but it is a little difficult to do that because the fish is very slippery.

Preheat your broiler at its highest setting. When it is ready, put the fish eyes side up first. Note that this thing will cook very fast, so check every 5 minutes or so. Broilers are different, so use this as an exercise to learn how your broiler cooks food.

After 5-7 minutes in the broiler, the butter will start to melt and the garlic will start to brown. At this stage, spread the butter-garlic mixture with a brush on the fish for an even coat.

Let it cook for another 2-5 minutes, until you achieve this.

Flip it over, and repeat on the other side. This will take less time to cook, so watch it. It should be done in 3-5 minutes…

Or until you achieve this! Isn’t it divine?

Serve it with salad or white rice.

If you prefer salmon steaks, go ahead. The process is the same, minus cleaning off the gills and other leftover innards.

Willing to give it a try? Salmon eyes are the fattiest bit and the cheeks!

Comments

I adore salmon but dont always order it because it can be costly. I have only started getting into whole fish and the way you make this, just makes me want to jump in and go HAM on this head… but i still cant bring my self to eat the eyes. Do me a favor, scoop out the eye, dont tell me its an eye and feed it to me. I will eat it and probably love it and then you cant tell me its an eye. ok?

It’s not weird. We just don’t waste food! Asians have been snout-to-tail dining way before it was sexy. There’s a lot of meat here (mostly at the collar), and I’ve had requests to show how much meat there is. I will do that post soon.

Fish cheeks were once a popular dish here in the Maritimes. I think they were called “sounds”. So far, I can distinguish a fish head from its tail…
This is a great tutorial! I’ve been wanting to buy fish heads, but didn’t know what to do with them…till now. Thank you!

I cooked this dish just now and it’s absolutely divine! I had the whole salmon head just for myself with a wedge of lemon and the eye socket makes me swoon! I didn’t have a broiler so I just used my toaster oven and I still get a nice crispy fish.
Thank you so much for giving the recipe and I’m excited to cook this again!

Just started eating salmon heads this year and I must admit it’s the tastiest part of the fish. The cheeks and the eyeballs are delish. Sadly though me and my 9yr old daughter are the only ones willing to eat it. My wife and two sons will not come near it. I can’t wait to try out this recipe (perhaps tonight) it really sounds good. Plus I love the way my wife looks like she is going to pass out every time I scoop out a eyeball and pop in my mouth (priceless). Thanks again and I’ll let you know how it turns out.

It was quick and delicious! I sprinkled a spicy rub as well on top of the garlic/butter spread. Preheated oven with Broiler on High for 5min. Placed heads about 6in away from top broiler element. Broiled head-side up for 5min on High – that was enough to just nicely crisp. Flipped heads, broiled on Low for 3min, then High for 2-3min to get the surface crisp. Mouth-watering tender! Thanks for the recipe !

We eat a lot of salmon heads too. But pan fry them.
Ingredient list to cook one whole head:
1> Any cooking oil spray
2> Tumeric powder 0.25 tsp (any asian/indian grocery shop)
3> Fish curry masala 0.5 tsp (any indian grocery shop)
4> Table salt to taste
Method:
1> After cleaning the fish heads, remove excess water by keeping them in a large strainer for few minutes.
2> Sprinkle 2, 3 & 4 on fish heads and rub spices with hand
3> Heat pan on medium heat.
4> Spray oil and coat pan
5> Add fish head and cover pan with lid.
6> After 6-8 mins, turn fish heads to other side.
7> Cover pan with lid and keep on medium heat for another 6-8 mins.
Serve with cooked rice or even bread.
(You will find that there is more oil in pan than you originally sprayed into the pan. This is normal. All that is yummy salmon oil. Goes well will warm rice or bread)

After deciding on the Taiwan layover, the decision to get a Taipei City hotel was easy - yet difficult. I never had the experience of staying in a hostel, and quite frankly I only hear about it from travel sites and the Globe Trekker (originally broadcast as Lonely Planet) series back in the 90's. Yay Ian Wright! Personal Tidbit: I was a short lived tra […]

I finally paid Manila a visit after 10 years of living in New York City. Last summer, I went on a smorgasbord trip to Italy, Israel and France (and havent blogged most of it yet - soon, I will do it!)I ended up in Taiwan because some flights to Manila involved 20 hour layovers. The choices were Japan and Taiwan. I picked Taiwan because I have never been ther […]

Arresting to the senses. Words cannot explain how much fun the Travel + Leisure Global Bazaar 2012 Kickoff Party was. The drinks were overflowing, the booths were entertaining and the decor was very well done. Kudos to every one who made this event possible! It literally was like going into the pages of Travel + Leisure magazine. It.was.this.much.FUUUUUN!Bel […]

One of Italy’s most known architectural structures is the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It is a freestanding bell tower that tilted to one side because the foundation on ground on one side was too soft to support its own weight.This campanile is part of the Piazza dei Miracoli otherwise known as Piazza del Duomo where there are four great religious structures – the […]